READING SIDDHARTHA GIGOO: TRAUMA, MEMORY OF HOMELAND AND LONG WAIT FOR HOME

Abstract

Siddhartha Gigoo is one of the finest contemporary Kashmiri writers in English. He is a novelist, poet, filmmaker and trained musician. Most of his writings revolve around Kashmir, the homeland that he had to migrate from when turmoil struck Kashmir down in 1990s. This paper is an attempt to read and analyze select short stories of Siddhartha for understanding how he attempts a literary representation of the trauma that his displaced community faced as a result of political turbulence in Kashmir. Moreover, the article will focus on how Siddhartha attempts a literary representation of the memory of his homeland through his characters and their long wait for the return to their home (Kashmir). A select body of short stories from his work A Fistful of Earth and other stories would be analyzed for understanding the themes of trauma, memory and longing of homeland.